Elvis Biopic To Start Filming In Australia Six Months After Tom Hanks Contracted the Coronavirus During Pre-Production
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Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, which shut down pre-production in March when Tom Hanks contracted the coronavirus, will start filming on September 23 in Queensland, Australia. The film was among the first Hollywood projects to halt production as a result of the pandemic.
“We’re back to, as Elvis liked to say, ‘taking care of business!’” Luhrmann said in a statement. “It is a real privilege in this unprecedented global moment that Tom Hanks has been able to return to Australia to join Austin Butler and all of our extraordinary cast and crew to commence production on Elvis. I cannot emphasize enough how lucky we feel in the current climate that the state of Queensland, and Queenslanders in general, have been so supportive of this film.”
Luhrmann, whose films include Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, went on to thank the Queensland Government “for their extremely diligent process, so that we can be an example how creativity and productivity can proceed safely and responsibly in a way that protects our team and the community at large.”
He added, “We are all excited to start working with Tom Hanks when he is out of quarantine in two weeks.”
The filmmaker also shared an Instagram photo of himself masked up on a soundstage.
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Welcome back cast and crew. “Taking care of Business” in the wonderful State of Queensland.
Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, tested positive for Covid-19 in early March while the actor was in rehearsals on Elvis in Australia. Luhrmann told Deadline in April that everyone involved in rehearsals, including himself and Butler, quarantined for 14 days after learning of Hanks’ positive diagnosis. “It turned out we never had one more infection in the entire crew,” he said.
Hanks co-stars as Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, in the highly-anticipated biopic. The film will delve into their complex relationship, as well as Elvis’ rise to superstardom, and is currently scheduled for release on November 5, 2021.
